New downtown nail salon is a family affair
Miami grad opens Polished Hamilton on Main Street.
A new Hamilton business owner is sharing a space with her mom.
Abby O’Neal, a freshly minted graduate of Miami University and Fairfield native, is opening Polished Hamilton in the back of Scripted Studio, a stationery and gift shop at 306 Main St. owned by Carrie O’Neal Brenner. Polished Hamilton opened for business Saturday after a noon ribbon-cutting by the Greater Hamilton Chamber of Commerce.
“Everyone’s just so supportive,” said O’Neal, 22, about being on Main Street in Hamilton. “It’s a growing business district, and it’s perfect for someone who’s starting out. They’re supportive of everyone and all the new businesses coming in.”
The idea for the salon was a class project she developed during her freshman year at
Miami. She had to develop the concept business, including a marketing plan. Two years ago, she earned her manicurist license, and she graduated from the Small Business Management program at Miami Hamilton in May.
That project stuck with her, she said, and a year ago she began planning with her mom to open a nontoxic nail salon in the back half of Scripted Studio. Instead of working for a few more years at a salon or spa, which she liked, O’Neal said being a business owner was more her speed.
“I like to go-go-go and I like running things, and managing things and organizing things,” she said. “I liked working for people, but I want to work for myself and run it and do it my way.”
The whole experience has made her mom overwhelmed with emotions.
“It’s every mother’s dream, to some extent, to live out your dream and your child’s dream simultaneously,” O’Neal Brenner said. “I’m just so proud of her.”
And impressed.
O’Neal Brenner said her daughter, at 22 years old, was able to balance a full load in her final year of college, work at a salon to gain the experience to run her own nail studio, and tackle everything required to open a new business.
“I couldn’t be more proud,” she said.
It’s also going to be “a huge success,” she said, and not because she’s a mom cheering on her daughter. While the nail salon was being constructed, customers of Scripted Studio would get a chance to peak at the progress “and the response has been wonderful. I think it’s going to be a huge success. I think she’s going to be crazy busy, and it’s going to be fun to watch.”
Scripted Studio opened on Main Street in 2019, when things were starting to take off. Over the past five years, the 300 block of Main Street has exploded, with Rossville Flats open, Agave & Rye planning to open later this year, the announcement of Aglamesis Brothers opening next door, and the anchor of the stretch being True West, which opened 13 years ago this December.
“This little corner (of Main Street) is like my little home and I love it,” said O’Neal, who had worked for her mom’s stationary and gifts shop since it opened.
“We knew in our head it was going to be great, but you had to stick with it. Things are coming and you just had to grow with it, and now it’s even better,” she said.
Though O’Neal Brenner is happy for her daughter as a business owner, she now gets to continue her mentorship as O’Neal starts her business career. Before opening Scripted, O’Neal Brenner ran O’Neal Design, a graphic design boutique agency, out of her home.
“I thought the lessons I was teaching her through that was to be a good mother and to be present, make good choices and be present for your children,” she said. “But I realize I taught her how to be an independent entrepreneur and to take risks and to take chances and to reach for your dreams, and to watch all that is incredible.”